The Legacy of Fairy Tail
by Black Blood Alliance
Summary: Fairy Tail has always been an inseparable guild, fueled by love, trust, and friendship. What happens when one member forgets this bond? The Gray Retrieval Arc is ongoing. Eventual Natsu x Lucy. Previously known as Fairy Tail's Adventures.
1. Chapter 1

Helllllllllllllloooooooooo peeps! Some of you may have read one of two of my stories, others may not have. However, I have a new idea and have decided to put it into action. If this goes well, then this should be a pretty long fanfic. However, with school starting, I may have trouble to uphold that decision.

**Summary: **Join one of the strongest guilds in Fiore as they go on new journies, experience unexpected betrayals, and save their nakama from various troubles. I am planning to have several arcs and possibly introduce OCs as main characters. However, the main characters from Fairy Tail will be the main characters from here as well. Natsu x Lucy is the only pairing I have decided on so far. Gray's and Erza's respective relationships will wait until I have decided what to do with Jellal. If you guys have a solution for me, then leave it as a review! I will consider each of them.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Fairy Tail, only the OCs and, to a certain extent, the plot.

Chapter One: Rising Anger

It was a normal day in Fairy Tail, which most _normal _people would think of as a quiet, progressing day in which many things get accomplished. However, those who know Fairy Tail know the difference between a "normal day" for Fairy Tail, and a "normal day" for the rest of humanity. The guild was currently causing a lot of ruckus and destroying things that the Guild Master would rather be kept in spotless condition. Makarov could only sigh as his words of calming failed to reach the ears of many of the Fairy Tail members. He would have put them in place through force when words failed to do the job, but Porlyusica had strongly cautioned him to refrain from using his powers unless it was to defeat an enemy. She had suggested that maybe he retire, but Makarov had strongly declined. Even after using Fairy Law, a spell that is physically and magically taxing on a man like him, Makarov was still going strong. His vision of sight was diverted to Gray, who oddly was not participating in the natural brawls of the Guild this time. Rather, he just sat at a table, alone, with his arms crossed. His gaze was piercing as he stared at the wall, obviously pondering something important.

Come to think of it, the ice alchemist had been getting more and more quiet after each of Fairy Tail's adventures. Makarov glanced at him curiously, and he examined Gray's facial expression closely as the stripper glanced at Natsu with a small but noticeable scowl. Makarov sighed and shook his head, berating himself silently for thinking that there was something wrong. There was always brotherly hostility between Natsu and Gray.

However, he was dead wrong. This was more than simply hostility.

* * *

><p>Gray glanced down at the table, unable to shake his unease. He scowled at Natsu unconsciously. When did that Salamander get so powerful? Nearly every fight they have been in so far, Gray was left on the sidelines as his rival defeated the strongest enemy. Sure, Gray had saved Natsu once, but that was only due to Natsu's motion sickness when fighting that owl-guy working for Jellal. Recently, Natsu had defeated Hades after entering Dragon Force, and while the S-Class Trials had been postponed, anyone withe eyes could see that Natsu was going to be an S-Class soon enough. Finally, Gray slammed his hands on the table and stood up. Immediately, he turned towards Natsu and kicked the Salamander in the back. Natsu turned back towards Gray, fire literally spraying from his mouth.<p>

"What the hell ice-freak! Stop picking fights!"

Natsu, however, was surprised when Gray turned around and started sprinting towards the entrance/exit of the guild. The ice alchemist looked back at Natsu and smirked.

"Catch me if you can, lizard-breath!" Gray snorted and put on an extra burst of speed before exiting the guild. Natsu roared before pointing his palms in the other direction, and small jets of fire bursted from his palms, propelling him forward and increasing his speed as he ran.

"Come baaaaaaack!" Natsu's yelling became more and more faint as both he and Gray left the guild.

Lucy sighed, placing a hand on her cheek and glancing down. "Those two will never change, will they?" she questioned hopelessly.

Erza, however, was glancing sternly at Gray. Sure, the ice alchemist had picked at Natsu a lot and vice-versa, but there was something different in Gray's eyes when he kicked Natsu for no reason. It was a sort of emotion. Maybe...fear? Anger? The Titania didn't know, and before she could stop herself, she walked over to the Master. "Master," she murmured. "Please allow me to chase after them. They will be brought back and punished by me directly when I return with them," Erza requested.

Makarov pondered her decision for a moment, his expression unreadable. Finally, he shook his head. "No, they will be back in a moment. They will just fight it out for a small time before racing back towards the Guild." Even as he said that, indecision lingered in his eyes. Why did he feel that this time, things would be different?

* * *

><p>Natsu ran aimlessly through the forest. Gray's perverted scent was the only thing leading Natsu right now, and he knew that the ice alchemist was somewhere in this general direction. A blur passed in front of Natsu, and a kick landed square in his jaw that sent the Salamander skidding back a few feet. Natsu wiped his mouth and spit to the ground, glaring at Gray who had just jumped out of a tree after kicking Natsu.<p>

"What the hell is your problem!" Natsu demanded, ready for a fight.

Gray, still with his hands in his pockets, charged Natsu. "Shut up and fight," the ice alchemist replied softly before headbutting Natsu in the chest and kicking the Salamander in the gut.

Natsu smiled, crashing the fist of one hand into the palm of another in preparation for a fight. "Sounds good for me," he said, before charging towards Gray, his hands clenched. He threw his punch towards Gray, who nimbly dodged to the right and took his hands out of his pockets.

He too lowered his fist onto his palm, and an icy mist surrounded his hands. "Ice Make: Lance!" Gray shouted, and spears of ice materialized and shot from the ground towards Natsu. Natsu, unaware that they would actually use their real magic in this fight, was caught by surprise and hit by the lances. He was thrown back into a tree which he then slid into the ground.

Gray chuckled, placing his hands back into his pockets. His chuckle grew into a full laugh that traveled throughout the forest, sending birds fleeing from the sudden noises. "Looks like my suspicions were wrong, Natsu. I should have known that you weren't stronger than me," he chuckled again, turning around and walking back towards the Guild. However, when he heard the sudden circulation of fire, he turned around sharply.

Natsu stood, his fists ablaze, only that there was no anger in his eyes. He wasn't even staring at Gray; he was staring _through_ the stripper. Small, black lines formed on Natsu's skin that resembled dragon's scales. They shifted to a color of red, and a large pillar of fire grew from Natsu. "What are you doing?" Natsu questioned. "Using magic on a fight without the Guild Master's approval isn't allowed," Natsu stated.

"I just thought we would settle this once and for all," Gray replied swiftly. He was gradually becoming more and more afraid of the Dragon Slayer and what he was capable of in Dragon Force.

Suddenly, Natsu's form disappeared, and a blur was all that was visible before the Salamander was directly in front of Gray, his fist inches away from the ice alchemist's face. Natsu's fist slammed into Gray's face with the power of a train, throwing Gray back over twenty yards. "You want to settle this? Then I'm all fired up!" Natsu growled, and his flames grew only more powerful. A bead of sweat traveled down Gray's skull as he watched Natsu slowly walk towards him.

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><p>Makarov calmly sipped his tea, patiently awaiting Natsu's and Gray's return. Most of the guild was continuing their reckless behavior with the exception of Erza's intervening, since Titania was sitting at a table, resting her head on her hand. She hadn't agreed with the Master's way of handling this, but she had decided to listen to him nonetheless. However, a sudden boom echoed from not too far away, and Makarov almost spilled his tea. Erza darted out of her seat and glanced around, discerning that the boom must have been in the forest behind the Guild.<p>

"Master!" Erza scolded, knowing that she should have stopped Gray and Natsu from getting into it. The Guild's doors slammed open and Natsu walked in, Gray draped over his shoulders, unconscious. The scales were quickly disappearing, and he dropped Gray to the ground with a silent thud.

Erza stomped towards Natsu, and she glared at him, her face a few inches from his. "Natsu, what is the meaning of this? Not only did you recklessly charge after Gray. However, despite his previous actions, you should not have knocked him unconscious!" the scarlet-haired beauty ranted at Natsu.

The entire time, Natsu's expression remained impassive as can be as he listened to Erza's rant. Gramps slowly walked over to Natsu, glancing between Gray's unconscious form and Natsu. "What. Happened?" Makarov's voice was dangerously low, and this was what truly sent a chill down Natsu's spine. The old man was mad, he had no doubt.

"Gray wanted to fight using magic, so I obliged," Natsu's trademark grin brokeout, although it was somewhat disturbed.

"And you, despite knowing the Guild's rules, listened to Gray's foolish request and completely defeated him?" Makarov questioned in a harsh tone.

Lucy stared at Natsu, pity in her eyes. He met her gaze and responded with a reassuring smile, and she halfheartedly returned it.

"He wouldn't stop. He even started using magic in the first place. There was no way to stop him without drawing out the fight unless I knocked him unconscious right away," Natsu replied.

Makarov glanced at Gray once more. "I will wait for him to awake before I said anything more. Meanwhile, you are not to leave this guild until then," Makarov muttered to Natsu. Salamander nodded and picked up Gray's body, placing it over a couch in a corner of the room.

Gajeel glanced at Natsu. It was easy to see that he was proud of the Fire Dragon Slayer, for both his rare use of rational thinking and being able to knock Gray unconscious without sustaining any real injuries. Wendy glanced at Natsu worriedly. "Natsu-kun," she began, but he caught her off with a smile, meaning that he would explain later. She smiled slightly and nodded, understanding the silent message.

Juvia's murderous gaze was missed by no one as she glared dangerously at Salamander. While Natsu wasn't scared of Juvia if it came to it, her gaze unsettled him. No one, however, noticed Gray's eyes flutter open and glance at the couch cushions. He could feel anger, helplessness, irritation, and many other negative emotions dwelling up inside of him. His fists clenched, and he wanted to charge Natsu and pummel him into a pulp. It was easily proven; Natsu was much stronger than Gray now.

Erza glared at both the Master and Natsu. She and Makarov were, for the most part, in an isolated area where few could hear their conversation. Makarov raised a hand. "Do not blame Natsu. Truthfully, I am the one to blame in this situation. You saw what might happen, and I refused to believe it. Those two...their friendship is declining, quickly," Makarov added.

Erza realized the truth behind his words that it wasn't Natsu's fault, and she didn't blame him now. However, she was shifting uneasily. "No, I don't think that's it. Natsu still holds Gray in high regard despite what he might say. But Gray...he has been changing. I don't know to what extent he is changing, but I think it is best to keep an eye on him for now," Erza advised.

Makarov nodded. "That might be the safest choice currently, for all of us."

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><p>So, what do you guys all think? Sorry if it sort of jumps from one PoV to another, but meh.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary: **Join one of the strongest guilds in Fiore as they go on new journies, experience unexpected betrayals, and save their nakama from various troubles. Natsu x Lucy, Erza x Jellal, possible Gajeel x Levy.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Fairy Tail, only the OCs, and, to a certain extent, the plot.

Thank you for the review(s)!

**ShiningStellar**: Gray is, more or less, getting fed up with his rival getting so far ahead of him so quickly. He is starting to feel like extra baggage, or dead weight to the team now. Obviously, his suspicions are wrong and he isn't dead weight, but he doesn't know that. He is starting to feel like he's on a losing streak.

Here is Chapter Two!

The Beginning to it All

Makarov's fiery glare was starting to get burned into Gray's mind, and was, albeit slowly, starting to fry Gray's brain. "Well?" the Guild Master requested sternly but not unkindly.

Gray rubbed the back of his head and averted his gaze, glancing at the walls on either side of him sheepishly. "I've already told you; there's nothing more. Just a friendly fight like we always do."

Makarov remained silent and unmoving before he let out a sigh. "I hope it _is_ nothing, Gray. I'll let the both of you off of punishment for now, but don't do this again." Despite Porlyusica telling Makarov not to exercise his powers unless necessary, he felt that this situation could potentially require forceful repairing.

Natsu, who had remained quiet for the main portion of the conversation whooped. "Alright! Thanks Gramps!" he shouted before sprinting out of the private room the three of them were inhabiting inside of the guild. Gray followed him silently. He was without a shirt, but he surprisingly had kept his pants on.

Makarov sighed, rubbing his temples in an attempt to console this rather perpetual headache.

Lucy felt a soft tap on her shoulder, and she around to view it's source, which was none other than Natsu Dragneel.

"What are you doing, Luce? You're standing in front of the mission board but you aren't picking a mission. Kind of like Nab. Weird," Natsu murmured. Nab, upon hearing his indefinite habit being mentioned, stalked away, his shoulders slumped.

Lucy huffed indignantly. "I don't want to be called weird by a man who eats fire!" she retorted with a bit of humor and turned back around to face the mission board. "I want to pick a job, but I'm not sure which one I want to pick. If we choose one with all four of us, the price has to be more than 280,000 Joules (sp?)."

Natsu nodded and began stroking his chin in a thinking manner. Lucy laughed upon seeing this, the words 'thinking' and 'Natsu' hardly ever went into the same sentence.

"What?" he questioned, temporarily stopping his pondering pose.

"Oh, nothing," Lucy giggled, looking away.

Natsu continued his search, and thrust his hand forward, ripping one of the jobs off of the board. "We'll do this one," he murmured, shoving the sheet into Lucy's hands, causing her to yelp and almost drop the sheet.

She examined it closely. _Band of thieves continue to steal from shop. Will pay 800,000 Joules if they are defeated._ "I don't know," she said tentatively. "That's a little high for just dealing with some thieves, don't you think?" Lucy said logically.

Natsu pointed to a further description halfway down the sheet. "The band of thieves have actually been stealing from the entire town, and they can use magic. But with you, me, Happy, Gray, and Erza, it should be a cinch," he gave his trademark smile and jerked a thumb towards his chest. "We are Team Natsu!"

Lucy couldn't help but smile at his optimism. "Ok, let's talk about it with Gray, Erza, and Happy first," she said, and began scouring the guild for the three other members of Team Natsu.

One of them - an unmistakably blue cat with wings - landed on Lucy's shoulder as he held a fish in his mouth. "Sounds good to me, Lushy!" he piped in, calling her what he usually called her.

Lucy nearly jumped in fright as a voice spoke from her shoulder, but she quickly recognized the figure as Happy. "Oh, Happy, you scared me for a second," Lucy let out a sigh of relief.

Happy remained silent and still for a moment, before dropping his fish and flying away. "Natsu! Lushy was being mean to me, and she made me drop my fish!" Happy whined to his best friend.

Lucy's mouth was agape as she watched Happy snitch on her for actually doing nothing. She hadn't insulted him, and he on his own had dropped his fish. She threw her hands up in the air exasperatedly and found Gray and Erza. They were both sitting at a table, the former of whom talking to Juvia. Erza appeared to be going over several documents. Lucy sat in the only available chair and slid the job paper across the table to Erza. "Natus picked out a mission for our team," Lucy stated as Erza went over it.

Erza nodded as her eyes skimmed the mission, her eyes slightly widening at the amount of Joules awarded. She handed it to Gray, who, after reading over it as Erza had, nodded his acceptance as well. "We'll leave in the morning at ten," Erza declared and went back to sorting her documents. Lucy nodded and make her way to Mirajane to get confirmation for the job. However, Natsu stood in between Lucy and the bar, where Mirajane was located, cleaning various glasses.

Natsu stood there for a moment, Happy perched on his shoulder. "Lucy, someone told me that you were being mean to Happy," Natsu said seriously with his arms crossed, a disapproving expression on his face. Happy, from behind Natsu, stuck his tongue out at Lucy, mocking her.

Lucy sighed; she had a feeling she knew just who this source of information was. _Not very reliable, either_, she thought in her mind. "Yes Happy, I am sorry," Lucy said sarcastically before pushing past Natsu and reaching Mirajane.

"Excuse me, Mirajane. Team Natsu would like to do this job," Lucy spoke, eying Natsu and Happy talking vividly out of the corner of her eye.

Mirajane nodded, giving Lucy permission, and gave a soft chuckle as Lucy eyed Natsu. Well, Lucy was really eying both Happy and Natsu, but in 'Mira's world', Lucy only was eying Natsu. "They're so cute, aren't they?" Mirajane sighed smiling at Lucy.

"I guess," Lucy felt a small smile tug at her lips as she watched the two of them just mess around. Apparently, Happy was rather annoyed that Natsu hadn't gotten Lucy to apologize genuinely. "Well, thank you Mira!" Lucy chimed happily before taking the job and making her way back to her apartment. Upon reaching it, she pulled out a key that was hooked into a separate key chain from her Celestial Spirit Gate Keys. Oh, Aquarius would piss a fit if Lucy had put her "humble, unworthy" housekey on the same chain as Aquarius' own key.

As Lucy walked inside, she realized the lights were already on. Berating herself for leaving them on, Lucy walked to her bedroom and began to pack. However, when she entered the room, she noticed a familiar Dragon Slayer and Exceed perched up on her window.

"Get out!" Lucy snapped to Natsu and Happy, both of whom only shrugged their shoulders and did the opposite of her wishes; _they came in._ Lucy sighed, wondering why she even tried to force them out of her own home. Could it really even be considered her home when the entire time visited, no, invaded it on a daily basis.

Natsu leaned towards Lucy and began whispering in her ear. "Happy won't stop until he you apologize to him, so apologize!" he whispered, and Lucy grimaced at the blue cat that was tugging on Natsu's trousers and whining.

Lucy growled, forcing herself to apologize through seethed teeth. "Happy...I am...sorry.."(she said this particularly weirdly) "...for being mean to you," she finished quickly, and was satisfied to see Happy quit his wailing almost too quickly, which left her wondering if he was ever crying in the first place.

"Great! Now that that's done, we can stay here for the night!" Natsu grinned, raising his hand and inviting himself over.

"As if!" Lucy huffed, kicking at him.

He dodged it and put on a pouting face. "But Lucyyyyyy. It's so far to my place, and me and Happy are really tired," he whined as best as he could.

Well, he _was_ right. His house was actually quite far away from hers, completely on the other side of the city. However, his house was closer to the Guild, which left her quite confused as to why he came to her apartment all of the time. Lucy slumped her shoulders, depressed. Why did it have to be her that housed several people at one time? "Fine." But before Natsu and Happy could get into her bed and take up all of the space, she added, "But you are sleeping on the couch!"

Natsu and Happy were whispering to each other loudly. "See Happy? I told you it would work! All you had to do was act sad."

"Aye!"

"I can hear you two," Lucy murmured, but shrugged her shoulders in defeat. "Now please go to sleep. I am planning to read, and for that, I need peace and quiet," she requested.

"Aye sir!" Both Natsu and Happy saluted her before walking into her living room. She peaked around, making sure that they were completely out of her bedroom, before sitting at her writer's desk. She pulled out a stack of papers from one of the drawers, labeled '_Lucy's Story'. 'DO NOT READ!' _ was labeled under the title as well. She flipped it to her current page and began writing, her mind working up all kinds of inspiration.

She was so focused into her story, she didn't notice two figures, one much taller than the other, sneak up behind her. "Nin-Nin!" Lucy shrieked before turning around and slapping whatever was behind her. It took her a moment to recognize both the previous voice and the person she was slapping at as Natsu.

Lucy sighed, "What is with you two and scaring me!" she demanded. Natsu's eyes wandered to Lucy's story, and Lucy blushed, waving her arms frantically around her story. "No, no, no! It says 'Do not read' on the cover for a reason Natsu!" She said.

"Why can't I read it?" He pouted.

"You should count yourself lucky I haven't kicked you out of my place yet," Lucy retorted, standing up with her hands on her hips.

"But we want to read your story! Me and Happy can't play 'Nin-Nin' here because we know the place too well!" Natsu begged.

"You know the place too well because you visit here all the time," Lucy corrected. "And you can't read my story because I'm not done with it."

"But you let Levy read it!" Natsu pointed out.

_Damn him! That was supposed to be a secret!_ "Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Not!"

"Not!"

"Too!" Lucy replied, but then she felt confused. "Wait! No, I meant not!"

"See! You admitted it!" Natsu smirked.

"Look, I can't let you read my story yet just because it isn't finished!" Lucy said, sitting down in her chair and grabbing her pen. Expecting her pen to write down on soft paper, she was quite surprised when she heard the _thud _of her pen hitting the wood of her desk. "Where's my story!" She wondered aloud.

"Run, Happy, run!" Natsu shouted, making his way to the door. That blue cat, which Lucy had all but forgotten about, was now flying away into the city, with her book in his mouth.

"No!" Lucy shouted, grabbing Natsu by his scarf and throwing him back into her apartment. He landed on the couch, rather dazed, and she stood over him. "Nat~su," She growled menacingly, and Natsu felt the familiar fear now that he often felt from Erza when she was angry.

"I didn't know, I swear! Happy just grabbed it while we were talking, and I..just..." Natsu lost his train of thought, which was unfortunate for him.

That morning, when Natsu woke up on the couch in Lucy's apartment, there were various bruises on his body.

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><p>It's more of a filler. The mission will start and progress some in the next chapter. Thanks for reading folks!<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

Alright, now for reviews!

**ShiningStellar: **Thanks. It's actually really hard to get Natsu's character right. While he is dense and lacks common sense in most affairs, he shows aptitude in taking care of his nakama.

**Beta5200: **Yeah, I plan to implement Jellal into the story in the next arc. He will still be locked up in the Council's cells, but a certain Guild hopes to free him soon enough. ^^

Next chappy!

* * *

><p>Once Again<p>

Lucy glanced around frantically, searching for a particular blue cat. She and Natsu were on their way to the Magnolia train station, but Lucy hadn't seen Happy since he had taken her book. Understandably, she had been fretting for a while now. "What if he scratched the papers? What if he got drool on them? Even worse, what if he read them?" Lucy muttered to herself while pulling her hair dramatically. Natsu rolled his eyes at her never-ending fretting.

Natsu locked his hands together and rested them on the back of his head as he walked, taking rather large steps. "I only wish he would have let me read it," Natsu mumbled.

Lucy slapped the back of his head. "And don't think I forgot your_ role_ in taking my book! If you weren't in the way, I could have murdered that cat!" She snapped.

Natsu, looking for an excuse to change the topic, kept at a faster pace when he saw Erza and Gray at the train station. "We're here!" Natsu whooped, raising his hands high above his head like a child.

Gray cringed at Natsu's childish tone, while Erza raised her eyebrows at Lucy and Natsu coming together, but she refrained from commenting on it. Lucy noticed Happy hovering in the air above Erza's head, and she immediately began to dive at the little pest, but stopped when she realized that that would mean diving on Erza.

"Happy! Where's my book!" Lucy snapped.

Happy licked his paws. "I left it at your house!" he stated as if it were obvious. "When you two went to sleep, I snuck in through the window and left your book under your bed, just like Natsu told me to," the cat said happily.

Natsu, meanwhile, had been standing behind the Celestial Spirit Mage, waving his hands frantically in inclination for Happy to stop, but the cat had continued talking as if oblivious to the world.

Lucy's head slowly turned to face Natsu, and her face contorted into a feral snarl. "Nat~su!" she enunciated each syllable with the tone of death.

Natsu paled before picking up his things and running onto the train. "Let's go!" He shouted quickly.

"I've never seen Natsu so eager to get on a train," Erza noted confusedly.

"Aye! Lucy is mean!" Happy chimed in.

"Shut up cat!" Lucy snarled back.

As they went into the train, Gray rolled his eyes at his team's antics. When had they become so annoying?

_(On train ride)_

Lucy had sat next to Gray, which Erza had decided was the safest option to prevent the Lucy from murdering Natsu in a slow, painful death. Erza had knocked Natsu out midway through the trip and allowed the pink-headed dragon slayer to rest his head on her lap. Lucy secretly wished that Natsu was awake so that he may _enjoy_ the ride on the train. The train ride itself was very long, taking almost twelve hours to reach the town of Gladgeon. By the time they got off the train, it was starting to get dark out.

They arrived into the town of Gladgeon, which was a very large port town. Houses were scattered haphazardly throughout the districts, and the entire place looked as unsafe as an angered Erza, maybe even more so. Team Natsu exited the train and walked down the center of the city, looking for a weapons' shop called _Favorite Steel_. Apparently, the bandits that rob it come in at around midnight on nearly every night.

They found the shop rather easily; it was the only one without a door. Erza wondered if they knew that Natsu was coming and had specially removed the door from the hinges properly before Natsu could get the chance to dislodge it with a single kick.

Upon entering, each team of Team Natsu showed the tattoo of Fairy Tail. Finally, Erza spoke up. "We're here for the mission," she proclaimed, and her voice echoed throughout the shop. There were bookshelves and bookshelves of hung weapons. The weapons ranged from small ones like daggers to ones rarely used like flails. Like the houses in the town, they were all hung haphazardly, and Lucy pondered how one would go about getting a weapon down without getting cut in every direction. Before Natsu could mess with one, Erza grabbed his earlobe and dragged him to the register.

A rusted bell lay on the counter top, which Erza rang once every few seconds. When a minute has passed by, she crushed the bell under a fist and shouted, "Is there anyone in here?"

A slight cough was heard in response, followed by a short man's head suddenly bobbing over the top of the counter. "I've been here the entire time," he said, rather annoyed. His voice was a curiously high pitch, sounding familiar to a whisper. No wonder Erza hadn't heard him. The Titania peeked curiously over the counter top to see that the man was standing on a stool that was half his height so that he could see over the counter top.

"Erm, yes. We are here for the mission," Erza repeated, slightly embarrassed for indirectly insulting the man.

"Ah, yes, of course you are. But why are you here?" the shopkeeper questioned. He was a stout man with a curly white mustache grazing his upper lip, and the only hair on his head was sideburns that traversed the side of his head.

"To get information about the mission," Gray quickly retorted, sounding irritated.

Lucy grimaced. Why else would they be here? That old man was being rather foolish.

"All of the information is on the job sheet! Now, I'm paying a million Joules on this thing, so hurry up and deal with those bandits!" He shouted.

Normally, Team Natsu would get rather angry at his tone and incompetence. However, when the increased sum reached their ears, all hostility was forgotten. "A m-million J-Joules?" Lucy stammered, hoping against all odds that she had heard right.

The old man nodded with a small grunt. "The price was increased due to some information we just found out."

_We?_ "What was the information, if you could please share it with us?" Erza asked cautiously. She glanced at their group, registering the looks of shock on all of their faces. Lucy, Gray, and Happy all seemed surprised. Erza turned back to the man and waited for the response to her question when her eyes suddenly widened. She glanced back at their group, and the silhouette of a certain Dragon Slayer was blinking in various multicolors. "Where is Natsu?" Erza snapped, looking around the shop.

Lucy gasped, and Gray face-palmed his forehead. "Your friend left as soon as I mentioned the current price," the old man said smoothly.

Erza glared at him coldly, knowing that before would have been a better time to share this information. "I have failed our group. I let go of Natsu when I knew full well that he would run off," Erza said sadly. She turned to Lucy. "Lucy, please hit me. As hard as you can as well."

Lucy sweatdropped. "Let's not be hasty now," she tried to calm Erza down, but Titania had already ran out of the shop. Gray followed closely behind. "Wait! Don't leave me behind!" Lucy whined before running off, Happy flying next to her head.

The old man behind the counter shook his head. "Youth can be so energetic, yet so...foolish," he murmured before exiting the shop through the back door. A lamp that sat on the counter top was the only light illuminating the room other than the gray skies that filtered a small bit of light through the cracked windows. Nevertheless, a tattoo flashed in response to the light being flashed upon it; a tattoo on the back of the old man's neck.

* * *

><p>Erza spotted their hotheaded friend running through the town, yelling "Where the hell are you bastards? Come out and fight!" And he destroyed whatever was in his sight. Erza caught up to him and held him in a headlock.<p>

"Didn't I tell you to wait for the old man to give us information?" She snapped. When she was met with no answer, she tightened her hold. "Well? Answer me!" She added, unaware to the fact that she was choking the life out of Natsu and that he, in fact, could not talk when under such circumstances.

"Erza! Natsu can't speak when you are choking him," Lucy accused, slightly irritated with both Natsu for leaving and Erza for over exaggerating.

"Ah, right." Erza said before loosening her hold, but Natsu was already out cold. She bent down and began slapping Natsu's cheeks lightly. "Natsu, wake up! Now is not the time to be sleeping!"

Lucy sighed, shaking her head. _So hopeless_ she thought with a small smile. Erza lifted Natsu up, throwing him over her shoulder. "I guess there's no other choice. I will have to carry him," she said. "Lucy, what is the time?"

Lucy pulled pulled out a silver pocketwatch she had recently purchased. It flipped open, and she read the time. "It's almost midnight," she answered, closing her watch and slipping it back into her pocket.

Erza nodded. "Then they should be here soon." She surveyed the entrance to the village. However, ten minutes passed with no activity, then twenty. Half an hour went by, and Erza stomped her foot in frustration. "Where are they?" She looked around the town.

Lucy refrained from laughing. When it came down to it, Erza and Natsu weren't so different; both of whom eager for a fight. She frowned at the unintentional meaning that became clear when she thought this. Surely they didn't have a thing for each other?

Erza frowned. "Alright, the rest of you go to sleep. I will take first watch," she said. However, just as the said that, the doors to various homes around her began opening rather suspiciously. Erza immediately was on guard and she re-quipped a sword, holding it with her other hand while she held Natsu over her shoulder with the other. It would be one thing if only one or two doors opened to different houses, but nearly every door in the town was open.

People walked out of the houses, almost every one holding a weapon. The ones that didn't were undoubtedly wizards. Erza quickly made the call. "We were set up! Get ready to fight" She shouted and she dropped Natsu to the ground with a thud. Lucy immediately reached for her keys, and Gray lowered his fist onto his open palm. Natsu, upon hearing the word 'fight', immediately pulled himself up and enveloped his fists in flames.

However, just then, a massive white light illuminated the area, and each member of Team Natsu was teleported to a different part of the town, left to fight on their own.

* * *

><p>Hrm, a trap, I say? I wonder if <em>everyone<em> is in on it, hm? Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary: **Join one of the strongest guilds in Fiore as they go on new journies, experience unexpected betrayals, save their nakama from various troubles, and discover plots that date back to time even before Zeref.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Fairy Tail, only the OCs and, to a certain extent, the plot.

The Seeds of Anger

_Recap: All four members of Fairy Tail were separated, each one scattered to the four corners of the village. Now they must fight against the ambush they were placed in._

Natsu's eyes opened suddenly, but he almost immediately regretted the action when dirt and minerals found their way into his eyes. He closed his eyes again and crossed his arms defensively in front of him in case anyone came to attack him. A small dust cloud surrounded his body, and he sniffed the air, walking backwards towards the direction of the sea where no one could attack him from behind. When he was out of the dust cloud, he examined his surroundings. "Lucy! Happy! Gray! Erza!" He shouted, looking around him for his four friends. At the edge of the dust cloud was another, much smaller figure. "Happy!" Natsu exclaimed happily as his friend pulled himself up and flew next to Natsu's head.

"What happened?" Happy questioned, rubbing his eyes as if just waking up from a deep sleep.

"I'm not really sure, but get ready to fight. We were set up," Natsu growled as members of the village began walking towards him. The dust cloud had cleared by now, and Natsu's hands flared with flames as he glared at the villagers. "What's going on?" Natsu demanded.

No answer was met, and he glanced at the villagers carefully. Each one was covered in rags and thick coats so that no skin was shown. Most carried various weapons; the others were presumably magic users. "Happy! Let's go!" Natsu murmured as a small fireball hovered in his palm.

"Aye!" Happy responded, grabbing onto Natsu's scarf in preparation to give his friend an aerial advantage.

Natsu flexed his hand, and the flame roared, growing slightly bigger than his fist. "Flame Grenade of the Fire Dragon!" He pointed his hand towards a group of the villagers, and the fireball shot from his hand with the speed of a bullet. It didn't hit any of the villagers, but instead collided into the ground at their feet. A loud explosion was met as it blew up that area. Natsu grinned, clenching his fist. "I've been waiting to do that! Happy, now!" Natsu shouted, and instantly Natsu was lifted into the air. He soared towards the villagers and engulfed his fists in flames.

* * *

><p>Erza re-quipped into her Black Wing Armor. This armor offered rudimentary defense in comparison to her other armors, but it's destructive power was one of a kind. Besides, she doubted that the villagers would be able to touch her. Her head snapped towards the distance as she heard an explosion, but smiled to herself in recognition of the user. It seemed that her friends were all right as well.<p>

She weaved in and out of the massive crowd of villagers, striking quickly as she did so. She did get hit a few times, but it was nothing serious. Her attention wasn't focused on her enemies but rather the weapons they were wielding. Being connected to her own armor and weapons almost like a mental and body connection, she had a sixth sense when sensing the whereabouts of another weapon. Or in this case, many weapons. The Wizards were rather weak ones, and she was able to dispose of them almost immediately.

Soon, the battlefield was littered with corpses and weapons alike. Erza was panting slightly, and many shallow cuts surrounded her body. There was many enemies, but they were all weak. Quality over quantity, Erza always thought. It was now that she examined her enemy's clothing. How could they fight and maneuver in such thick clothing and with no armor?

She knelt down next to a fallen enemy's corpse and examined it thoroughly, looking for an answer to her question. As she examined the body, her eyes wandered over the showing skin on it's arm, showing where she had cut through the clothing. She gasped when she saw it.

* * *

><p>Lucy picked herself up, wearily studying the area around her. <em>How did I get here?<em> Lucy wondered to herself. The last thing she remembered was a bright flash of light, covering the body of hers and her comrades. Now, she in a different area and her friends were no where to be seen._ We must have been teleported_ she deduced to herself.

It was then that she noticed the approaching forms, marching at a slow pace. This caused her to raise her eyebrows, but she didn't think about it much. She brought up a Golden Key. "Gate of the Bull, I open thee: Taurus!" She commanded, and Taurus was soon standing in front of her, holding his standard large axe.

"Oh, Lucy-" Taurus began, but was cut off by his spirit master.

"Later, please! Can you deal with them?" Lucy requested, and Taurus huffed, turning to face them. "I will harm anyone who troubles Lucy!" Taurus proclaimed and charged towards them.

Not wanting to underestimate her enemies, Lucy withdrew another Golden Key. "Gate of the Lion, I open thee: Loke!" Lucy said, and Leo appeared soon after. She ignored his flirting and pointed at the herd of villagers. "Deal with them, please!" When he finally left, she sighed. _I swear, sometimes I wonder if their flirting will get me killed one day_ Lucy thought, referring to Loke and Taurus.

They were dealt with quickly, and she thanked her spirits before closing their respective gates. She glanced around, looking for any evidence leading to her friends. She had heard an explosion to the west a little while back, but she wasn't certain that it was Natsu's. As she accidentally stepped on a fallen body, her eyes drifted to it before stepping back. "How can they wear all of these clothes? Why not just wear armor?" Lucy wondered out loud. Her eyes trailed over the body when a revealed patch of skin caught her attention, undoubtedly done by Taurus. "W-What is this?" She backed off after examining the skin.

* * *

><p>"Ice Make: Floor!" Gray shouted, already shirtless. The floor was immediately plastered with a thin layer of ice, causing a good amount of his enemies to slip and fall. He followed up with, "Ice Make: Cold Excalibur!" He rammed through his enemies and dealt with them all rather quickly. Some would think of him as a barbarian, fighting shirtless and all, but Gray wasn't quite just that. Cuts ranging from shallow to medium sized ranged over his body. He slipped his hands in his pockets; he could sense the magical energy of Erza, Natsu, and Lucy, so he knew that they were fine.<p>

He berated himself for knocking them all unconscious instead of keeping one as a hostage. Why they had attacked, he had no idea. His eyes trailed over the exposed, cut skin of one of his enemies, and his eyes widened. "Wait, what the hell is this?" He wondered with unease. The skin was wrinkled and black, clearly not belonging to a human. This, combined with the rotting smell, made him crinkle his nose in disgust.

"Bravo, bravo," a voice hissed from behind Gray, and he sharply turned. "I wanted them to at least injure your group a little bit, but it looks like I overestimated their power." The speaker was a little taller than Gray with tight, ghostly skin. His eyes were an unsettling pure black, and his hair was black and wavy, falling to his shoulders.

"Who're you?" Gray asked cautiously.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot that you wouldn't recognize me in this form," the man whispered, and his form suddenly shifted. He shrunk a few feet in size and his skin and face changed in appearance until he resembled the man from the shop before. He took off his top hat and placed it over his chest before bowing. He shifted back to the other form and a cruel sneer took place on his face. "My name is Kazuma; I am pleased to acquaint myself with you, Gray Fullbuster."

Gray didn't have time to move before, with a bright flash of light, the man disappeared and reappeared behind Gray. "You Wizards of Fairy Tail are so overrated," he murmured. He drew back his hand before stabbing it through Gray's back. Surprisingly, his bare hand passed cleanly through the top of Gray's back and out through the left part of his chest. Gray coughed up blood before slumping to his knees.

The man chuckled, a cold laugh that resonated throughout the entire city. His laughing stopped when he felt a rush of air from behind him, and he ducked instinctively before turning and kicking at a large bull, standing on two legs. A blond woman stood behind him with a golden key in her hand. "Gray!" She shouted. "Are you ok?"

Gray didn't respond, but he pulled himself up to his feet. Kazuma didn't appear to be troubled at all by the fact that Gray had stood up. "Celestial Spirit Magic," Kazuma murmured, recognizing the woman from the shop earlier.

Lucy, seeing the transformation from afar before, snarled at the man. "Why are you doing this to us? Where's this 'mission' you were talking about?" Lucy snapped.

"Foolish girl, there never was a mission. My true motives will remain a secret. I am not one to foolishly give my true intentions away before they're even put into affect," Kazuma replied coolly. He turned so that his back was to Lucy. "Gray, finish her. I will be watching from here," he said before teleporting to the highest part of his shop (which wasn't very high at all).

"Wait, what?" Lucy squinted at the man as if seeing him for the first time. "What are you talking about? Gray would never-" She was interrupted as a blade of thin ice protruding from Gray's elbow swung towards her. Taurus was there in an instant, blocking the blade with his axe. His massive strength pushed Gray back, and Gray swung with the blade on his other elbow, causing Taurus to back step.

Kazuma sneered, watching the exchange. "I can see your confusion. Why is your friend attacking you? Why did a man you've never met before send specifically for Team Natsu? What's happening? I'll answer the first question for you. I can take over the minds of weak-minded people. Even if they are only very temporarily weak-minded, if I can make use of that moment, I can take control of them forever," Kazuma murmured.

Lucy stared at him, bewildered, before her eyes widened. _When Kazuma hurt Gray, that must have been when he took control of him!_ Realizing the immense usefulness of Kazuma's magic, Lucy decided that she wouldn't hold back. "Gate of the Maid, I open thee: Virgo!" Lucy shouted, slashing Virgo's key through the air. Virgo appeared a moment earlier in her standard form.

"Punishment, princess?"

"Wha? No! Just help defeat him!" Lucy pointed towards Gray.

"Of course," was all Virgo said before disappearing into the earth. While Gray was fiercely concentrated on Taurus, Virgo grabbed Gray's legs from under him and pulled him under. His lower body was locked in the earth, and Taurus swiftly knocked him out.

If Kazuma was disappointed that Gray was beaten, he didn't show it. "Next up the Fire Dragon Slayer: Natsu Dragneel!" Kazuma shouted, beckoning his arm to the side dramatically.

Lucy's mouth was agape as her best friend approached slowly. His expression was unreadable, but surely he wasn't taken over? Lucy thought. He was her best friend, wasn't he? She couldn't answer this as Natsu's hands were engulfed in flames. "Iron Fist of the Fire Dragon," Natsu murmured without emotion and he lunged towards Lucy.

She narrowly dodged his fist, and Taurus quickly intervened. He swung the flat of his axe towards Natsu, who swiftly ducked low to avoid the blow. Natsu followed with a flaming uppercut, immediately throwing Taurus back. Virgo tried to pull Natsu under, but she backed off when her hands were burned upon touching Natsu's flaming body. Natsu sharply turned and kicked Virgo's jaw. She was thrown back next to Taurus. "Roar of the Fire Dragon." Natsu clenched his fists and held them in front of his mouth. A torrent of flame swirled out and engulfed almost engulfed Virgo and Taurus, but Lucy quickly closed the barriers forcefully.

"Forced Gate Closure...Interesting," Kazuma murmured to himself too softly for anyone to hear.

Lucy fell on her knees, exhausting from using so much magic. Natsu slowly advanced towards her, and she gazed into his eyes. She felt tears welling up at the hopelessness of the situation and how truly terrifying this man's magic was. She was fighting her own best friend!

"Why don't you just take over me too! This could be over so much more quickly, so why subject me to this!" Lucy shrieked to Kazuma, throwing her arms into the air in exasperation.

Kazuma glared down at her coldly. "Isn't it obvious? How could I truly enjoy this situation without someone feeling hopeless? How could I enjoy this overwhelming victory _without_ subjecting you to this kind of pain? The pain of the mind is the worst pain of them all," Kazuma stated.

Lucy stared at the ground. "Natsu...please. You're my best friend; we shouldn't be fighting like this!" She cried. "Where's that knucklehead somewhere inside of you? Please! Natsu!" She shouted his name, still staring at the ground. She couldn't bring herself to look at Natsu, not when she was being this pathetic.

"Lucy."

The word was uttered and as it entered her mind, Lucy stopped sobbing for a moment. She wiped away her tears and glanced up at Natsu uncertainly, but with a glimmer of hope in her eyes. "Natsu?" She murmured. His facial expressions had changed. In his eyes were now confusion, sadness, and one other emotion. One that held more weight in Natsu's demeanor than anything ever before. He was always hot in the literal sense, but now he was steaming with one, single, emotion: anger.

"Why are you crying?" Natsu knelt down in front of Lucy, placing one hand on his chin.

She swallowed a painful lump, and a small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

Natsu stood back up and turned to face Kazuma, who was still on top of his shop. "Lucy, is this the bastard that made you cry?"

She glanced at his back and nodded, although he couldn't see it.

Natsu glared at Kazuma, the one who started this all. The one who had hurt Gray and made Lucy cry. All of Natsu's current anger was directed towards that man. Nothing would shield Natsu from him now.

"While I'm around, I'll make it so that you never have to cry. If someone makes you cry when I'm not where, I will destroy them," Natsu declared.

Lucy gasped. She couldn't stop the big smile that eventually broke out. She didn't even know why she was smiling in this sort of situation. How could Natsu make her smile in the worst of situations?

When Natsu turned to faze Kazuma and was clearly intent on destroying him, Kazuma couldn't help the dumb, confused look that appeared. How could anyone resist his magic? It had never happened before. Never. No matter how strong the mind was afterwards, when Kazuma seized a person's mind, it was his until that person died or fell unconscious. How could this happen, and just who was this Dragon Slayer really?

Kazuma grimaced and drew his sword, a single simple katana. "I suppose there's no other choice then. I'm going to have to destroy you myself," Kazuma said sourly as he jumped off of the building and nimbly landed on his feet.

Kazuma's form disappeared as he began to move at a speed that could only be followed and/or matched by a handful of humans. However, in Dragon Force, Natsu wasn't a human. As Kazuma swung his sword towards Natsu's neck in an attempt to end it quickly, Natsu caught the blade effortlessly in one hand. Kazuma's eyes widened for a moment, and Natsu delivered a powerful uppercut to Kazuma's belly which threw the Wizard back over fifteen feet. Natsu followed by igniting his entire body on fire and charging Kazuma, his feet leaving the ground and acting as propellers as flames protruded from his feet as jets. "Fire Dragon's Sword Edge!" Natsu shouted as he collided into Kazuma's chest.

Kazuma was thrown back further into a building which crumpled as he slammed into it with force matching a train. In the house's place was a large cloud of dust and mounds upon mounds of rubble. Through Natsu's keen eyesight, he could make out a silhouette walking through the dust cloud. Kazuma exited the cloud with his arms crossed. Several nasty bruises were marked on his body, but one would think that what he had just went through would kill even him. _Is this the power of Dragon Force?_ Kazuma wondered in slight awe. A thin layer of energy began to cover Kazuma's katana.

This time he teleported with a bright flash of white energy and he appeared behind Natsu. He slashed down at Natsu's back, but Natsu turned and grabbed the katana once more. Kazuma smiled cruelly as the energy on his katana began to vibrate excitedly and grind against Natsu's hand. Natsu yelped, drawing back and retreating several yards.

Kazuma, confident after finding a weakness in Natsu's almost impeccable defense, charged, swinging his katana in an arc. Natsu dodged this blow and Kazuma followed with a series of complicated strikes. Natsu dodged some of them, but others he was forced to grab with his hands or block with his arms. When they disengaged, Kazuma had no new injuries, but the defense on Natsu's hands and arms had been penetrated, and they were beginning to bleed.

Lucy couldn't help but worry about Natsu. Sure, he was very strong in Dragon Force, but Kazuma could easily outclass many S-Class Wizards with his powers and skills. Lucy hated to admit it, but Kazuma was extremely powerful.

"It's time we ended this, Dragon Slayer," Kazuma said, surprisingly sheathing his katana.

Natsu didn't respond to him but instead said, "Lucy, get Gray and get out of here."

Lucy gaped at him, surprised that he had the nerve to tell her to leave him here. "What? I can't leave y-" she began, but stopped when Natsu looked at her.

"Please. I don't want you or Gray to get caught up in this," Natsu pleaded. Lucy gazed at him in his eyes long and hard before she sighed and nodded. She summoned Horologium to put Gray into and began running away.

She glanced back at Natsu, worry evident in her expression."You had better come back to me, Natsu Dragneel," Lucy murmured before continuing on. Kazuma, surprisingly, had not interfered in her leaving. It seemed he had lost interest in killing her. Natsu engulfed both of his hands in flames, but Kazuma's keen Sensing could see the difference in properties between the two flames. One was his standard Dragon Slayer flame, while the other was on a completely different scale.

"It seems you are going all out in this final hit. Good, that's what I'm looking for," Kazuma murmured. He pointed his palms so that they were facing each other, a single strand of energy connected them for a moment before his hands were charged with yellow energy. A pillar of light descended from the sky like a bullet and covered Kazuma's form. It was as if the light had shoved the clouds aside and came from the heavens itself.

A pillar of flame descended to cover Natsu, producing a similar effect in the moving of the clouds in the sky. Finally, when their power had reached the peak, they both shouted:

"Dragon God's Brilliant Flame!"

"Light of the Heavens!"

A large explosion followed, composed of both energy and fire into one. The explosion itself was extremely large. If Natsu hadn't told Lucy to move with Gray, they both would have been incinerated in the blast. A skyscraper of energy, almost a hundred-and-fifty feet wide, rose from the combined power of their attacks.

Several minutes passed before it finally died down. Natsu and Kazuma were both standing, but each panting heavily and sweating profusely. Natsu fell on his knees and his arms sagged on either side, but he remained conscious, staring at Kazuma with an intense expression.

Kazuma fell to his knees as well. "You win...Dragon Slayer," Kazuma murmured. "As a reward for your victory over me, I will inform you of who I truly am. I have lost the battle, but my mission has been completed. My name is Kazuma, and I am one of the ten strongest Wizards in Tartaros. Tell your Guild Master that Tartaros is starting to make it's move, and that the seeds of anger have been planted," before disappearing in a bright flash of light.

Natsu was left to attempt to comprehend what Kazuma said for a few minutes. Eventually, Erza sprinted over with Lucy. Happy was flying next to Lucy's head, and Gray was still in Horologium. Erza knelt down next to Natsu. "Lucy told me what happened, Natsu. I saw the explosion. Who was he?" She requested.

Natsu took several deep breaths, struggling to answer. Erza may have seemed to be cold, being interested in who the man was and all, but none could skip over the evident worry in her eyes at her friend's situation. She smiled slightly, placing a comforting hand on Natsu's shoulder. "Right. You must rest. How foolish of me. Was he strong?"

Natsu responded with a small smile as well. "Yeah, he was real strong," he said. Erza and Lucy smiled at this. Despite their friend's condition, they knew he was going to be all right. Natsu's expression grew grim for a moment. "I'll tell you what he said after we recover and meet with the Guild Master," he said.

Erza remained silent for a moment, and then nodded. She helped Natsu to his legs and helped support her friend. Lucy supported Natsu by his other side. Horologium walked with them with Gray inside of him. They waited at the train station until the train came, through which they departed back on a not so long ride back to Magnolia. Natsu, instead of being seasick, was able to fall asleep of his own accord on the train. Lucy was able to as well, and Gray seemingly had not awoken yet. Erza was the only one awake. Her gaze flicked over to Natsu occasionally, checking to see if it was really ok. She could see the power of the fight from afar, and the power of that last attack exceeded even the Jupiter cannon.

She couldn't help but wonder what had _really_ happened at the city. Who was that man, what were the frail villagers that resembled ghouls, and what really was the point of this entire ordeal?

_(Back at Tartaros)_

"You were really defeated?" A man asked Kazuma. This man sat in a high chair in a rather spacious room, complete with a desk, business table, couch, and secret room.

"Yeah. Although this was the strongest Salamander could get, it was still extremely powerful," Kazuma answered. "But don't worry, for I accomplished my mission," he said with a small smile.

"Good, good," the man in the chair mumbled.

Team Natsu was under the impression that they had won this battle. However, if anything, Tartaros was the real winner. Because while Kazuma _had_ been defeated, he didn't miss a certain Ice Alchemist's hate-filled gaze towards a certain Salamander as said Ice Alchemist was carried away in Horologium.

* * *

><p>And there's the chapter! Oh, and Natsu didn't resist Kazuma's magic through some unknown miracle. There is actually a reason, which will be released later on. By the way, when I said that the "villager's" skin was 'wrinkled and black', I wasn't being racist or anything. This "villagers" look like this:<p>

.com/imgres?q=ghoul&um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=:en-US:official&biw=1015&bih=543&tbm=isch&tbnid=-Gk7jZiGKTpzWM:&imgrefurl=.org/acatalog/5473_Ravenous_Ghoul_-_Uncommon_-_Desert_of_&docid=G47tBWCcAoaVkM&w=184&h=162&ei=Mw82TpbbCdPUiAKD4u3DCA&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=425&page=2&tbnh=113&tbnw=128&start=21&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:21&tx=65&ty=22


	5. Chapter 5

**ShiningStellar: **Yeah, Tartaros is a dark guild. And yeah, I think that was the best scene so far. However, I have better ones planned. ^^

Waaahhh! No Fairy Tail chapter this week. U_U I am so depressed.

**Summary: **Join one of the strongest guilds in Fiore as they go on new journies, experience unexpected betrayals, save their nakama from various troubles, and discover plots that date back to time even before Zeref.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Fairy Tail, only the OCs and, to a certain extent, the plot.

Preparation and Decisions

Makarov fixed the five in front of him with a questioning gaze, worry clearly outlined on his gradually aging features. "And you're sure he said this?" Makarov asked. Everything about his posture and tone were now serious, despite the outfit he wore that resembled a joker.

Natsu nodded quickly. Makarov sighed; if what Natsu said was true and the man passing the message was telling the truth, then things weren't looking so good. There was one thing that Makarov didn't understand, however:_"The seeds of anger have been planted."_ What did that mean? This Kazuma wouldn't have told them this if it didn't relate to Fairy Tail somehow.

"What does this mean, Master?" Erza asked politely, interrupting his stupor.

Makarov massaged his temples. "I have little idea as to the second part of his message. However, the former part is clear enough. Erza, go inform the Guild. We must prepare for an all out war. In a week or so, we must evacuate Magnolia, for there is no telling when Tartaros could strike," Makarov murmured.

"Where would the citizens go?" Lucy asked.

"I'll inform the Guild Masters in the area of this, and together we will accommodate alternative living conditions for the citizens here," Makarov answered. "I can't believe it has come to this. Tartaros will surely pay," Makarov said seriously.

"What do you think our chances of winning are, Master?" Erza questioned.

"If the Light Alliance works together in this, then we will most likely succeed. Tartaros is the strongest dark guild known, but even they cannot survive the combined force of the Light Alliance." Makarov pondered over the recent occurrences for another moment before looking back up at Team Natsu. "You all are dismissed," Makarov said, waving his hand towards them.

Team Natsu nodded and went to their respective places. Erza went to inform the Guild of what had recently happened, Lucy went back to her apartment to rest, and Gray stayed at the Guild. Gray sat on the couch, not really paying attention to Erza's speech to the Guild. Juvia sat next to him, constantly worrying over his acquired injuries.

Lucy followed the path back to her house, glancing up at the sky. It was mid-morning, and they had gotten back from their job a few hours ago. Team Natsu had decided to tell the Guild Master about the recent happenings as soon as possible, and had put off their resting for a few hours.

Lucy yawned as she entered her house. She didn't even bother to call Plue due to her exhaust in magical power and she flopped on her bed. "Man, I am beat," Lucy murmured to herself.

"Me too," a muffled voice spoke from under her and Lucy shrieked, sitting up sharply. She turned and looked at her bed and realized that Natsu had been laying under the covers the entire time.

"How do you get to my house before I do?" Lucy questioned, slightly irritated.

"Lushyyyy! I put back your story!" Happy chimed from behind her.

"Don't call me that! And thank you for reminding me Happy. I had forgotten about that little incident," Lucy muttered deviously and she turned on Natsu. "How should I pay you back?" Lucy pondered, tapping her index finger on her chin thoughtfully.

"Umm...you could feed me lots of food," Natsu suggested in a voice that resembled a squeak as he sunk into the bed, scared of the punishments she had in mind for him.

"Hmmm...you're right," Lucy shrugged her shoulders and lay back against the bed, next to Natsu.

Natsu scrambled out of the bed, eying her wearily. "Whatareyoutalkingabout," Natsu spoke very quickly. There was no _way_ Lucy would let him off of the hook that easily. Even Happy dropped the fish he had been nonchalantly eating.

Lucy layed her head against a pillow and sighed, her eyes growing distant.

Natsu approached her, still weary. When he was close enough for her to punch him and she still hadn't, he relaxed slightly. "Luce, what's wrong?" Natsu asked in a caring tone. If there was one thing he was good at, it was reading his nakamas' feelings.

Lucy stood up so that she was standing in front of Natsu, although he was several inches taller than her. Natsu tensed, closing his eyes and bracing himself for the worst. However, he wasn't prepared when a warm pair of arms wrapped around his chest. He opened his eyes cautiously, and Lucy buried her head into his chest. He hesitantly wrapped his arms around her.

Her gaze was still distant as if she were pondering something. "You could have died, Natsu," Lucy whispered. Suddenly, she backed away delivered a powerful backhand to the side of his head.

"Oww!" Natsu whined, rubbing his head.

"How would I have gone on without my best friend?" She snapped with a smirk, only half serious.

Natsu averted his gaze from her and looked away uncertainly. "I-I don't...know?" he said/asked tentatively. He was scared of this Lucy; she was weird.

Lucy shook her head, the smirk still on her face. "Baka," she murmured, giving him one last quick hug before sitting on her bed.

Natsu flopped down on the other side of her bed. "I like your bed. It's so much more comfortable than my hammock," Natsu said dreamily.

"Then buy a bed like mine. We make a good amount of Jewels from our missions," Lucy replied.

"But then what would be my excuse for coming here?" Natsu replied, his eyes closed.

Lucy cocked her head to the side and stared at him curiously. "What do you mean?" she asked innocently.

She was met with a snore in response and she sighed, shaking her head with a small smile. Happy landed on Natsu's chest and began to fall asleep as well. Lucy bunched herself in covers and went to sleep.

_(Several hours later)_

Lucy's eyes fluttered open, and she slowly sat up. She noticed an indent on her bed where Natsu had been sleeping, and she looked around her room. Natsu was perched on the window, glancing outside with an unreadable expression. Lucy giggled, thinking about pushing him out of the window, but she refrained from doing so.

"I smell a storm," Natsu said randomly, his face tilting up to glance at the sky as he sniffed around. Lucy pulled herself out of bed and walked to the window. She looked outside and noticed Happy flying in a circle above the apartment.

He was right; gray clouds were moving in from the west, but they didn't look that bad.

Natsu, as if reading her thoughts and correcting her, said, "It's going to be a bad one," he added.

Lucy grimaced, figuring that if Natsu's keen nose had smelt it, it was probably true. "We should probably hurry to the Guild then. I don't want to go there in the rain," she said, rubbing her forearms absentmindedly.

"Let's go then," Natsu replied and dropped out of the window.

"Hey!" Lucy shouted, putting her hands on the windowsill and looking towards the ground. Natsu had landed easily. "I'll be out in a se-Woah!" she squealed as Happy grabbed her arm on his way to the ground and she fell with him. She landed on her butt with a soft thud. "Owww...Damn it Happy," Lucy murmured, rubbing her now aching rear.

"I was helping Lucy!" Happy whined. Lucy didn't mind as long as he said her name right.

"Alright, we should hurry then," Natsu piped in as he locked his fingers together behind his head and began walking towards the Guild.

"Aye!" Happy said and followed Natsu. Lucy walked next to Natsu as well.

They reached the Guild within twenty minutes and Natsu slammed the doors open. As he did, a large crash sounded, but this time, it didn't occur because of his actions. Natsu peeked inside, curious at the noise, and saw Gajeel and Gray in a stare-down. "Alright! A fight!" Natsu yelled and began running towards them. Erza held out her arm and stopped him, however. Natsu glanced at her questioningly.

"No, you cannot interfere in this one," Erza said sternly, her fierce gaze locked on the two. She would have stopped it, but she needed to see how far either of the fighters were willing to escalate it before cooling down.

Natsu began to pout but otherwise stayed in place. Lucy walked in shortly after Natsu and her gaze was centered on the Gajeel and Gray.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Gray snarled to Gajeel.

Gajeel glared at Gray coldly but remained calm. He shrugged his shoulders, "My eyes didn't deceive me. I saw you talking with someone, and they smelt bad," Gajeel replied coolly. A guild member outside of Fairy Tail would look at Gajeel in disgust for his comment, but the members of Fairy Tail knew better. Gajeel had a nose equivalent in usefulness to Natsu's. If he said that someone was bad, then chances are, he or she was. "Now that I think about it, you have been keeping to yourself most of the time recently."

"Shut it, you scrap-metal trash!" Gray snapped. An icy mist surrounded him, but the guild members still didn't interfere. Something was going on, and they all knew it.

"Don't be a pansy, Fullbuster. I'm only asking a question. Who was that man?" Gajeel asked coldly.

"Stay in your own damn business!" Gray retorted, advancing a step towards Gajeel.

"Just answer the _damn_ question!" Gajeel shouted back, advancing as well, but Levy placed an arm in front of Gajeel. A look of understanding passed between them, and Gajeel stepped back a step.

Gray snorted, "Look at bad old 'Iron Gajeel', being held back by a w-" A rod of metal slammed into Gray's face and continued throwing Gray back into the wall, which cracked upon impact.

Gajeel's arm returned to normal, his eyes boring into Gray. "I don't care what you say about me, but leave _her_ out of this, or I _will_ hurt you," Gajeel warned.

Gray growled and lowered his fist to his palm. "Ice Make-"

"Enough!" Makarov snapped, silencing both of the Wizards. Makarov glanced at Gray, anger in his eyes. "You two are to stop now, and I will not see anymore violence today from this Guild, alright?" his voice boomed. With all that was happening recently, Makarov had little tolerance in petty matters such as this. Gajeel and Gray glanced at each other once more before going their separate directions. Eyes of the guild members glanced at Gajeel with new respect and admiration, while others glared at Gray with barely suppressed anger.

Makarov glanced at Gray's retreating figure. Things were reaching a boiling point; he could only help his own guild members didn't make things worse than they already were.

Natsu had finally began to understand the seriousness of the situation and he remained quiet, making the wise decision to not making anything worse.

_(Later that Night)_

_"_Are you ready to depart?" a hooded man asked.

_"_Yeah, let's get the hell out of here," another hooded man said. He turned and looked back at Fairy Tail, grinning to himself. He squinted when he saw a black silhouette standing fifteen feet away from him. Lightning flashed, and his face was shown for a moment, the area illuminated by the bright flash.

_"_Gray-sama?" the voice spoke, and Gray cursed. Walking closer, the woman revealed herself as Juvia. "Where is Gray-sama going?" Juvia asked, her hands resting over her chest.

_"_Juvia," Gray murmured, walking close to her. His hand rested on her shoulder, and she gasped, surprised by how close they were.

* * *

><p>Natsu, Lucy, Happy, and Erza walked together, simply walking around the city. Surprisingly, it hadn't begun to rain, but lightning and thunder were occasional. Natsu was currently doing some weird dance, and Erza and Lucy were laughing.<p>

"Aye! Natsu is terrible at dancing!" Happy chimed.

"What? Happy, you traitor! They liked my dancing until you said that!" Natsu accused. Erza and Lucy laughed more, amused that Natsu had actually thought that they liked his dancing. It was funny, yes, but in the sense that it was bad.

A loud shriek sounded through the night.

The group stopped for a moment and glanced around wearily. "That sounded like Juvia!" Lucy murmured, and their eyes widened. They all began running to the source of the scream, and it took them five to ten minutes to reach the spot. They had met up with Levy and Gajeel on the way there.

"What are you two doing together?" Lucy asked curiously.

"W-We just left the Guild when we heard the scream," Levy sputtered, and Gajeel looked like he couldn't care less, but there was a red tint on his cheeks.

Erza raised her eyebrows, but didn't make anything of it at the time. Not now, when Juvia might be in danger.

They reached the spot, and each individual member, even Gajeel, gasped at the image. Juvia lay against a wall, a shard of ice protruding from her belly. Blood soaked her navy blue tunic, and and she sputtered as she tried to talk.

"G-G-Gray...sama," she murmured.

"No, Juvia! Don't talk, you'll only make it worse!" Erza shouted frantically. Erza re-quipped into one of her weaker armors and tore off a bit of fabric. She wrapped it around Juvia's chest. Had Juvia just mentioned Gray's name? Erza sharply turned to face Levy and Gajeel. "You two have to support Juvia, one by the feet, and another by the head." Gajeel and Levy nodded before doing so.

Natsu sniffed the area and growled. "He was here! Kazuma was here! He must have done it!" Natsu shouted angrily. His eyes showed disbelief in his own words, as if he were trying to deny the inevitable.

Erza laid a hand on Natsu's shoulder, her eyes soft. "Natsu, Kazuma cannot use ice magic-"

"He must have! No one else would have done it! Not...him," Natsu sulked, and his head was hanging low. His shoulders began to shake.

"Let's go back to the Guild," Lucy murmured. Erza nodded while Natsu just stared at the ground, begrudgingly following them to the Guild.

Upon arrival, they immediately ran to Makarov. Levy and Gajeel went off to the side, and fortunately, Wendy and Charle were still here. They begged the Sky Dragon Slayer to heal Wendy, and Wendy nodded determinedly. The Guild was a little deserted since, by now, most people were at their homes, sleeping.

Makarov didn't show any emotion throughout Erza's explanation, but when he finished, he slammed his hand against the wall. The wall cracked, but didn't crumble due to Makarov holding back. "You must not leave yet," Makarov whispered, immediately knowing that Team Natsu would object.

"What? Why can't we go after him!" Natsu shouted. Lucy nodded, agreeing with her best friend. Erza didn't do anything, but her gaze became stony and frustrated.

Makarov remained silent as he pieced together the secret message Kazuma had left them. He scowled in his mind. How could he have missed his own child's anger?

When he didn't respond for a while, Erza added, "And Master, the sooner we leave, the fresher their scent will be." Now would be the easiest time in which Natsu could track the scent.

"You cannot leave because I am waiting for someone. He will be here in the early morning, and will accompany you on your mission," Makarov said wistfully.

"Who is it?" Natsu snapped.

"You'll see when he gets here. It will be him, Lucy, Erza, Gajeel, Wendy, and you, Natsu," Makarov explained coolly.

"Why do we need so many people?" Lucy asked.

"Tartaros is the Guild that got Gray. To come so close to Fairy Tail like this, they probably came with a strong force. Besides, two noses are better than one, correct?" Makarov answered.

Natsu remained silent but nodded stiffly.

"So it is settled. Your team will depart very shortly after the man arrives here, which should be in several hours. Get some rest, do whatever. Either way, you must be prepared for this quest. This one will be harder than all of the others you have been on," Makarov said.

Team Natsu nodded, determination showing in their gazes. They all departed, but instead of going home, they stayed at the guild. They all went to sleep on a different couch except for Happy and Natsu who slept on the same one. Wendy had quickly fallen sleep after healing Juvia, obviously a little exhausted. Gajeel and Levy had decided to stay the night as well when Makarov told them that Gajeel would be going. Surprisingly, Levy had stayed as well, and was sleeping in a spot curiously close to Gajeel's.

Sleep didn't come easy for Team Natsu, however, and they were up for a few more hours. They managed to get a few hours of sleep before the doors slammed open. The dimly rising sun seemed to brighten the entire guild as shone around the figure's form, making it impossible to distinguish him. Finally, he walked in, and Team Natsu gasped. He had white hair and a white and blue trench overcoat. His eyes were like Gray's, and a bag hung around his body.

"I am here, Makarov of Fairy Tail," Lyon murmured coolly, his eyes flickering over and examining everyone in the room. Finally, everyone was here and ready.


	6. Chapter 6

For those who have been reading this story, I changed the title. Previously Fairy Tail's Adventures. I definitely like this title better.**  
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**Summary: **Join one of the strongest guilds in Fiore as they go on new journies, experience unexpected betrayals, save their nakama from various troubles, and discover plots that date back to time even before Zeref. Eventual Natsu x Lucy and multiple other pairings.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Fairy Tail, only the OCs and, to a certain extent, the plot.

_To Bring Back a Nakama_

The current Team Natsu's jaws hung agape as Lyon arrived.

Makarov nodded, looking to be deep in thought. "Natsu, Lucy, Erza, Gajeel, Wendy!" Makarov shouted, eying each and every one of them in turn.

Their gazes flicked to Makarov respectively as they were called. Pantherlily, Charle, and Happy gazed at Makarov intently, seeming to forget that he hadn't mentioned them, thus berating their importance. They didn't honor his call with an answer, however, and that's apparently what Makarov had expected, for he continued on.

"You all are to retrieve Gray from the guild Tartaros, and bring him back safely. We cannot allow them to kidnap one of our own members through however means they did it!" Makarov shouted. He turned, facing away from the group. Cocking his head to the side to gaze back at them, he muttered, "Give them all a good ass-kicking for me, if you will," Makarov added darkly.

A flicker of a smile tugged at everyone's lips at the guildmaster's "dark side". Natsu, despite the current events, attempted a small smile. "We'll do the job, Gramps!" he said.

"Then go!" Makarov commanded, waving his hand through the air. Team Natsu nodded in return and each member grabbed their bag and ran out of the guild at full speed. Natsu was in the front, his determined gaze seeming to burn holes through the double doors leading outside.

Unseen to the team, a tear slid down Makarov's face. "Hurry, Natsu, before it's too late," he murmured just as the guild doors closed, signifying their depature.

Natsu, Gajeel, and Wendy took the front, their cats flying next to their respective owner's face. The team was assembled into three lines with the Dragon Slayers in front, Lucy and Lyon in the middle, with Titania at the back. With their keen noses, sight, and hearing, the Dragon Slayers couldn't possibly fail.

Their search led them into a forest west of the guild, past where Juvia had previously lay, injured. Gajeel shifted one of his arms into a makeshift sword, cutting through any dense foliage that stood in their way. The smell of Gray was faint, very, very faint. The only thing keeping the Dragon Slayers tracking it was that they were travelling through a forest, which was empty of people for the most part. Therefore, scents didn't get mixed together.

"Lyon, if I may ask, what made the guildmaster assign you to this mission?" Erza asked. She had a feeling that she knew the answer, but she wanted to confirm it.

Lyon didn't turn back to look at her or even hesitate for the slightest of moments in his movements. After a few moments, he replied, "Gray is like a brother to me, and Makarov, as cunning as he is, knows this. I'm one of the few people who could speak sense to Gray if he ever strayed from a good path," Lyon said. "Though, there's one other person in this group who could speak to Gray as good as, if not better than me, and that's your hot-headed Dragon Slayer," Lyon said with a smirk. So intent was said Dragon Slayer on his searcht hat he didn't hear them.

A small smile tugged at Erza's lips. "That makes sense, I suppose," she said.

Natsu's eyes became glassy as if he were about to cry. _Gray...why?_ Natsu thought in his mind. Blinking off tears, he put on an extra burst of speed. "GRAY!" Natsu shouted, his voice causing an echo through the trees.

* * *

><p>Gray's head turned sharply as an echo reached him. The voice sounded so familiar, yet so distant...Then it hit him like a cold brick of ice; if there was anyone that could produce a yell that loud, it was Natsu, his former best friend. The sun had yet to rise, and thus little light was provided from the turquoise skies, most of which was blocked by the dense trees they were traveling through.<p>

Turning towards the members around him, he said, "We have to hurry up with this. I heard Natsu's yell," Gray said.

He was seated in the middle of some ancient rune circle, inscribed into the ground through various white lines. His body glowed in a yellow light. Several guild members of Tartaros surrounded him, their eyes closed and hands clasped. Power radiated from each one individually as they performed magic one couldn't hope to fathom.

"No," one of them replied calmly. "We must finish this before we move on. If we don't finish it now, we'll be forced to restart it later," he explained coolly.

Gray remained silent, his gaze drifting to the ground.

* * *

><p>An hour of steady running left them forced to stop, so they settled camp and built a roaring fire. Gajeel was leaning against a tree - half-asleep, - a chunk of metal resting in one of his hands. Wendy was warming up against the fire, conversing with Charle. Natsu and Lyon stared intently at the fire, as the flames flicked slithered. Erza and Lucy sat next to each other.<p>

Lucy lifted her head up, her eyes widening at a revelation. "Ooh! What is Gray is still being controlled by Kazuma? That would explain everything!" Lucy explained.

Erza shook his head. "You told me he that Taurus knocked him out. Therefore, Kazuma's control over Gray must have ceased."

"No, Lucy's right! Why else would Gray betray us? He's our nakama!" Natsu yelled at Erza.

Erza stiffened and began to reply, but Lyon beat her to it. "Didn't you hear Erza? Gray was knocked unconscious," the ice-alchemist snapped.

"He coulda been faking it!" Natsu retorted quickly.

Lyon took several deep breaths to calm himself, but talking with his flame-head was so _frustrating_, he would bet that the endeavor is harder than defeating all of Tartaros. "Gray's changed, Natsu! You should know that! Makarov told me everything peculiar that he's been doing, and he has been weird since before you met Kazuma!" Lyon snarled.

Natsu stood up abruptly, and the fire they had all been resting around roared, becoming increasingly fueled with Natsu's rising emotions. "It doesn't matter how much he's changed. We're Fairy Tail; to bring back a nakama, we should be willing to do anything," Natsu murmured dangerously before stalking away, vanishing in the woods.

"Natsu!" Erza sighed, standing up and preparing to chase after him, but Lyon held an arm in front of her.

"Don't. He needs to come to terms with this by himself," Lyon said without looking at her.

Erza's gaze watched the area Natsu had left, before she sat down, not saying another word.

Natsu returned in half-an-hour, not saying anything to anybody. They decided that they had rested long enough and resumed their journey. The sun had begun to rise, allowing the trees and various foliage to cast shadows over the dew-soaked grass.

As they were running, the three Dragonslayers sniffed the air curiously before their eyes widened. "Move out of the way!" Gajeel shouted, and the three of them jumped to the side, obviously smelling the danger. Despite the rather vague warning, the rest of the current Team Natsu jumped to the side. All of a sudden, the shadows from the trees all gathered. Tendrils of shadows struck out where everyone had previously been, each tendril as sharp as a blade.

Following their evasive manuever with a roll to balance themselves, Team Natsu settled their gaze everywhere. However, the three Dragonslayers all gazed in one direction, obviously sure of the man's presence.

Someone stepped out from behind a tree. His skin could be classified as pale, and black, windswept hair adorned his features. He wore a black cloak that fluttered in the wind, the ends of which appeared as a flickering shadow. He appeared to be no older than Natsu or Gajeel, yet he radiated an air of experience and power, which he undoubtedly had.

His eyes immediately rested on Natsu. "You're Natsu, right? Gray's friend? That would match Kazuma's description."

Natsu immediately made to charge towards the man, but Lucy held him back. "Don't you dare say Gray's name! I'll kill you, you bastard!" He pushed out of Lucy's grip and jumped towards the man, a flaming fist at the ready.

In a flash, a shadow from a tree had branched off and shot through the air, hitting Natsu and throwing him back.

Erza drew her sword, making the executive decision. "The rest of you go on. I'll defeat him," she proclaimed, immediately re-quipping into her Flight Armor.

Lucy was about to object, but Erza held up a palm to silence her. "I'm serious. We cannot afford to waste any more time, and the objective is to retrieve Gray."

Natsu didn't look back at Erza, but he flashed her a thumbs-up before running off. Lucy glanced back at Erza once before following him. Lyon, Gajeel, Wendy, and the trio of Exceeds followed as well. Strangely, the member of Tartaros didn't make a move to stop them.

"It is customary to address each other before actions are made, Miss Titania," the man said with a slight bow. Whether or not he was joking, Erza couldn't tell, but she only tightened the grip on her sword.

"My name is Kalo Shiori, and I'm ranked as the fourth most powerful Wizard in Tartaros," he said. Kalo turned his palm so that the back of his hand was facing Erza, and on the back of his hand was a number four.

"My name is Erza Scarlet, and I'm more than enough to handle you," Erza whispered without emotion.

"Then let us dance, Scarlet," Kalo replied and multiple tendrils of shadows flickered around Kalo. One of them lashed out towards Erza, but Titania immediately rolled to the right and took flight with amazing speed. More of the tendrils lashed out at her, and she maneuvered through them all.

Kalo didn't seem to be surprised even when she managed to evade all of the shadows and appear in front of him in nearly the blink of an eye.

Erza slashed at Kalo's side, but the man jumped quickly, flipping around and landing behind Erza. More shadows struck, but only a couple of them managed to graze Erza, drawing blood. She jumped to the side and turned sharply, taking advantage of her armor to avoid the shadows.

As she made her way towards him again, he extended his palm to face her. "Numbing Shadow Blast of the Shade," he murmured, and his palm was illuminated in a black color before a large blast shot out. Erza's eyes widened and she narrowly managed to avoid the brunt of the attack, but a part had struck her ankle. Strangely enough, Erza had hardly felt it despite the minimum protection her armor provided.

When she achieved sufficient altitude, she re-quipped into her Morning Star Armor, and immediately slashed her sword through the air. A yellow blade of energy was launched towards Kalo, and Erza followed with slash after slash. The ground around Kalo was emitting dust and dirt from all of the heavy damage it was taking. Shadows defended Kalo as he himself stood, impassive, not even flinching when Erza's blasts neared his face because they were only to be stopped by his shadows.

"Photon Slicer!" Erza shouted, and a large blast, crackling with energy, shot from the air. Kalo extended his hand, and the blast met with his palm. His gaze remained impassive for a few moments as Kalo battled it out with the Photon Slicer, but then his eyes widened. The mass of power behind the Photon Slicer was too much for him to simply contain without magic.

A sudden explosion filled the tense air. Kalo stood in the same spot, but burn marks were evident on his sides.

Erza smiled triumphantly, but then her ankle faltered. She nearly crashed down on the ground at the sudden numbness of her ankle. She felt that she could hardly use it.

Kalo smiled, "It's about time it took affect. I was beginning to think that you had evaded the actual effects," he said.

Erza's eyes widened as she thought back to his attack before. It hadn't hurt, but she hadn't dwelled on that. Shadows sped around him and launched towards Erza. Kalo was sure and disappointed that this would be the end of Erza. He had let the others go on by so that he might get a decent fight, but it seems that he was wrong.

Erza immediately stood and blocked the shadows with her swords, crossing them in an X-formation.

Kalo gaped slightly. "How are you able to stand?" he asked, curiosity evident.

Erza glared at him with the famous Titania fury. "The same way I can stand up when everything's looking down. My nakama are always there to help me up if I cannot get up myself. Even though they aren't here, I can still feel them!" she shouted.

Kalo couldn't help the surprise. Surely she was just kidding herself? Even if she could stand, it surely couldn't have anything to do with her emotions?

Erza's glare didn't falter as she re-quipped again, this time into her Purgatory Armor. Her giant spiked made was pointed towards the ground.

"That's an interesting armor. One that actually covers the majority of your revealing skin," he smirked slightly.

Erza ignored him, her fierce gaze and determined posture. She lifted the spiked mace in one hand with ease and slammed the spiked part against the earth. A fierce wind (created by a swing of the mace) cut through the earth as the ground itself cracked and split under its power.

Kalo was thrown far by the fierce strike of wind and power. His back hit a tree and he slid to the ground before regaining his composure.

With another flick of her wrist, Erza slashed the mace through the air, another blade of wind shooting towards Kalo. Kalo was hit again by the blast and it sent him to the ground.

"Are you finished already?" Erza asked.

"Well, it seems that this is one of your stronger armors. Looks like I'll need to buff up," Kalo replied nonchalantly as he stood up and wiped the dirt from his cloak.

A thin black veil covered his body, the energy grinding excitedly. Erza didn't hesitate in swinging her mace again, creating another gale of wind. However, as this one collided into Kalo's stomach, the wind merely dispersed into the air harmlessly. Kalo walked towards Erza casually. Erza swung her sword, sending another gale of air. Again it dissipated when it came into the thin barrier on Kalo. Letting out a grunt of frustration, Erza swung her sword once more. The results didn't change. She kept swinging, and Kalo kept walking closer - slowly - as if reveling in the moment. She swung a final time, but her blade was stopped as Kalo blocked it with a single finger.

Helpless, Erza collapsed on her knees, panting in exasperation. Kalo crouched and gently placed his hand under her chin, tilting her head to face him. "Finished already?" he murmured with a small smile.

Erza muttered something in reply, but Kalo didn't hear her. "What was that?" he cocked his head to the side confusedly.

"No...I'm not done," Erza reiterated. Her form began to glow and she rose into the air. With a bright yellow light, her armor shifted. Eventually, she was standing in her (currently) strongest armor.

Kalo stepped back, gazing up at Erza."This is your strongest armor?" he asked for confirmation.

Erza stared at him, but there was something different in her eyes. Regret, guilt, anger; it was all thrown away and replaced by a stoic gaze. A brief nod was all she gave before she charged, striking with her swords. As one of her swords met Kalo's armor, sparks flew as the two accessories competed. Then, with a slick sound, Erza's sword cut through the barrier, striking Kalo and throwing him aside.

Kalo righted himself and skidded along the ground. His hand clutched the left side of his cloak as blood began to filter out and soak that part of his clothing. Erza gave him no time to recover as she charged again, swinging her blades viciously. Kalo concentrated and dodged the blades. They began a fierce but brief struggle. Once, Kalo had lashed out with his hand. Apparently, the barrier gave him a cutting edge literally, for he was able to cut through her skin with his very hands.

Kalo darted around Erza's weapons, ending up behind her. He jumped into the air, aiming a kick at her shoulder. "Concussion," he uttered, and Erza felt a paralyzing shock traverse her body as his kick landed. Her limbs began to shake uncontrollably. It was all she could do to keep hold of her swords. She swiped behind her, but her reactions had slowed considerably for a short time with his 'Concussion' spell.

Kalo took advantage of the opening he had created and delivered a quick but lethal chop to the back of her neck. Erza collapsed to the ground, her vision flickering. Then, everything was black.

* * *

><p>Now he's going to rape-uh..I mean interrogate her! :P<p>

Review please!


	7. Chapter 7

**I iz sorry for the pretty late chapter, but I had another idea for a story. I got that other story up before I realized that I should probably update this. To my readers, here is the next chapter. xD  
><strong>

**Summary: **Fairy Tail has always been an inseparable guild, fueled by love, trust, and friendship. What happens when one member forgets this bond? Eventual Natsu x Lucy and multiple other pairings.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Fairy Tail, only the OCs and, to a certain extent, the plot.

_What's Right and Wrong?_

The group had settled into a similar formation prior to meeting Kalo. Natsu, as enthusiastic as he was, sprinted at the very front. Gajeel and Wendy lagged a small distance behind him one either side. The three Exceed were perched on their respective owners' shoulders, saving their energy for the inevitable, upcoming combat.

Lucy and Lyon were behind Gajeel and Wendy. The Celestial Spirit Mage occasionally glanced at Natsu, worry evident on her soft features. She had always trusted Natsu, even since before Phantom Lord. But could they fully rely on his commonly hotheaded judgment in matters like this? Natsu's gaze was impassive, but the Stellar Mage knew it was only a mask of the emotions of conflict he felt inside.

Could Natsu be trusted to fight Gray seriously?

Lyon's calm gaze too was a mask, although Lucy, or any other member in their current party, knew that. Inside, he was scowling at his own foolishness for not sticking with Gray. If he had joined Fairy Tail, he could have monitored the fellow Ice Alchemist's movements more closely. He could have stopped something like this from ever occurring. Things would never have had to be taken this far.

But it wouldn't do well to brood on things that couldn't be changed. Rather, he should focus all of his energy into trying to change things now. With this newfound determination in mind, Lyon continued his sprint, easily keeping pace with the group.

Natsu immediately scowled, glancing to the side. "Watch out!" he warned to the other Mages in his group. Just then, a tree to the left of them was quickly uprooted. Large hands gripped the bark on either side, crushing it under unimaginable strength. Then, the tree was hurtled towards the group. Natsu's foot was flaming as he jumped into the air, taking the tree head on. He shattered the tree in a single blow, causing fragments to be scattered harmlessly.

The man who had thrown the tree was massive. No, massive was an understatement. He must be nearly seven feet tall, his features imposing and intimidating. He was extremely muscular, much more so than even Elfman. His features were tanned, and he had shaggy black hair. He wore a purple tunic with a blood red robe.

Randomly, he began to chuckle. The booming sound caused the very ground to shake before his laugh turned into an insane cackle. "Fairy Tail Mages," he began in a deep voice. "Which one of you will have the misfortune of knocking on Death's door?"

Natsu growled, growing infuriated by this fool's rambling. He just wanted to find Gray. Everyone in his path would be incinerated if they felt like stopping him.

As if sensing Salamander's growing anger, the imposing man glanced at him. "Eh, what about you, pinkie? You look like a bit of a shrimp. Don't know how long you'll last..."

In a single, solid movement, Gajeel gripped his forearm, and his hand and wrist formed into a metal pillar, slamming against the muscular man. "I'll be your opponent," Gajeel said.

The pillar of metal slammed against the man with enough force to launch any humanoid creature flying. But he merely shuddered under its force before gripping it with a large hand. He crushed the rod immediately with a growl.

Pantherlily transformed into his full form, nodding at Gajeel. "I'll help you fight him. He looks pretty tough," the purple Exceed deduced.

Wendy glanced at Gajeel as well. "I want to help you beat him too, Gajeel-kun," Wendy said. The fire in her blazing eyes was unquestionable.

Gajeel frowned. "I don't know, Wendy. We don't know how much more of these guys are left. If you stay here, there'll only be three of us left to continue on," Gajeel said calmly, his gaze never leaving his opponent.

Hearing their conflict, the muscular man grinned, "You guys already met Kalo, right? After me, there's one more dude before your friend."

"Should we trust him?" Lyon whispered to Gajeel.

Gajeel scoffed, "Hell no." Raising his voice so that the large man could hear him, Gajeel added, "How do we know you ain't kidding?"

The man chuckled once more. "The answer is obvious, I would think." He looked towards the ground as he said this, though his head was slowly tilting up as he continued. "If you believed me and dispatched that those three up ahead, while you three stayed here." His gaze met theirs, and his eyes were glazed with bloodlust. "Then I would have three opponents all for myself." His grin sent chills down their spines.

Natsu glanced towards the direction in which Gray was, and sniffed the air. "I can only smell two others," he confirmed, speaking darkly.

Suddenly, Gajeel grinned, a grin that matched their opponent's in waves of eagerness to fight. "Then it's settled. Wendy, Lily, Charle, you're with me. Bunny Girl, Flame-brain, Icicle 2, you're all up ahead."

Natsu, Lyon, and Lucy nodded, ignoring the names Gajeel had issued to them. Happy glanced to Charle. "Be careful," he said quietly.

Charle glanced at Happy for a moment, impassively. Then she smiled. "You too, Happy."

The four of them, including Happy, made to go forward. "Wait," the muscular man said suddenly. He pointed a finger at Natsu. "I want to fight you and the iron dude. The scrawny girl won't last a single minute, and you look pretty damn tough," he grinned. Clearly, the man was used to getting what he wanted.

He jumped after Natsu with surprising agility and speed.

Wendy huffed indignantly. "Roar of the Sky Dragon!" she shouted, and a powerful, swirling current of air blew from her opened mouth, swallowing the member of Tartaros in mass fury. After a few seconds, the muscular man was thrown back nearly thirty feet from the blast, sending him into a tree which immediately shattered under the force of the blow and the man's bulk.

"Let's go!" Lyon asserted, choosing now to hurry onward. Natsu, Lucy, and Happy immediately followed after. If Natsu wasn't so set on reaching Gray, he would have accepted the burly opponent's challenge. As things were now, however, he didn't have time to fool around.

* * *

><p>Erza's eyes fluttered. At first, her sight was dark and blurry. However, as her eyes adjusted to the surroundings, she was able to see more clearly. When she could see for the most part, she glanced around, spotting Kalo sitting cross-legged next to the fire.<p>

Erza immediately tried to get up and run at him, but she couldn't. Her hands and legs were bound. Sensing her arousal, Kalo turned and glanced at her, the warm light of the fire illuminating his face, clearly expressing his facial expressions. "So, Titania's finally awake," Kalo muttered, poking the roaring fire with a stick, before tossing the stick into the flames.

"Why did you tie me up? What do you plan to do to me?" Erza demanded. Despite the current situation, her voice was strong and demeaning to the man responsible for her captivity.

"You're either brave or bossy to demand such answers after I let you live," Kalo murmured, standing from his spot. He walked over to the bound Erza, crouching in front of her.

Erza breathed in a deep breath to calm herself down. As much as her pride would be harmed in doing so, she couldn't be so demanding. Not in her current scenario.

"Are you calm now? Good," Kalo chuckled. Several minutes passed by in silence, as if Kalo was testing her patience. Suddenly, a serious expression graced his features, and he glanced at the skies. "Tell me, Scarlet, do you consider your guild 'good'?" he asked.

"If you're trying to compare _Tartaros_," she spoke the guild's name with evident distaste, "to our guild, then I would ask you to please refrain from doing so," Erza spoke, venom in her tone.

"So you do," Kalo answered his own question based on Titania's reaction. "But really, what's so different between our two guilds? I would say that the members in Tartaros are quite close and friendly enough."

"Your guild is evil," Erza snapped.

"And how so?" Kalo replied coolly.

"Tartaros is a dark guild," Erza answered. Slight hesitation showed in her features, and she expected Kalo's answer even before the man said it.

"Fairy Tail has been considered a potential dark guild by the Council," Kalo countered indifferently.

Erza glared, a sudden determination in her eyes. "You kidnapped our Nakama," she growled.

Kalo picked up a leaf, holding it in his fingerless-gloved hand. "Did we kidnap him? I'll tell you right now; none of the members on this team is an ice mage." Kalo glanced at Erza darkly. "So then who could have delivered such a blow to that water-woman?"

The cold reality dawned upon Titania, and her supposedly iron heart grew faint. "H-he wouldn't harm Juvia," Erza stuttered, her eyes widening.

"So Juvia was her name. She seemed to be really fond of Gray, but his eyes were blank when he struck her with a spear of ice. She was too shocked to dodge such an action," Kalo said. He seemed almost. . .sad.

"Tell me, Erza, if you had the chance, would you kill me?" Kalo asked her. His gaze was stoic, and his question unnerved her slightly.

Erza felt a shiver down her spine. Would she kill him? Something in her head told her yes; that she would kill him. She decided to go by it. "Yes, I would," she replied, equally as stoic.

"But yet, what have I done to you?" Kalo questioned swiftly, like he had expected her to say yes.

His words struck Erza through her armor, through her supposedly impenetrable defense. She felt a bead of swest on her brow. What _had_ he done? If what he said was correct, and Gray did join Tartaros of his own accord, then they didn't kidnap him. Furthermore, Kalo didn't kill her when he had the chance. He didn't even seem to have evil intentions.

Kalo smirked, once again glancing at the dawning sky. 'Who is the real bad person here?' he asked himself, a bit amused.

* * *

><p>The man pulled himself up slowly, shaking off pieces of bark. "Damn it, you little wrench," he growled. "If you want to fight so bad, I'll kill you first!" he shouted, and tendrils of energy flowed around his arms, down to his hands. He brought his hands together so that his palms were facing Gajeel, Wendy, Charle, and Lily. "Gaia Cannon!" he shouted, and a blindingly white array, containing fragments of the earth, shot towards the the dragon slayers and their partners.<p>

"Roar of the Iron Dragon!" Gajeel shouted a second after his opponent issued his magic attack. Their two fierce attacks met in the middle, and a brief explosion sounded. Neither blasts were able to make any headway towards their respective intended targets.

When the dust from the explosion cleared, the large member of Tartaros grinned darkly. "You ain't bad. Name's Tree, what's yours?"

The Iron Dragon Slayer grinned back with equal hostility. "Gajeel," he replied.

"Well, alright then, Gajeel! Let's see what you've really got!" Tree shouted, and he slammed his hands into the ground. "Gaia Pillars!" he shouted, and pillars of earth and various minerals shot up from the ground. They all arched so that they were heading towards Gajeel and Lily.

"Fast wind that runs the heavens...Vernier!" Wendy shouted, waving her arms as a music conductor might.

Using the enhanced speed given to them by Wendy's spell, Gajeel and Lily weaved throught the pillars. Lily made use of his massive, recently-acquired sword to cut through some that he might not have been able to maneuver through.

'Not bad', Tree thought. "Spikes!" he added, and spikes quickly protruded from the pillars, catching Lily. The Exceed was knocked off balance when a spike cut through his fur, and he hit the ground. Gajeel, however, managed to make it through without any injuries. "Iron Dragon's Sword!" Gajeel growled, and his right arm morphed into a blade withs multiple small spikes on its edges.

He swung it in an arc, extending it as he did so. Tree caught the sword with an arm, and Gajeel grinned to himself. The spikes began to grind against Tree's hand, and the giant faltered. The sword then slammed into his chest, cutting skin as it did so. If it hadn't been for Tree's extremely durable skin, the battle probably would have ended there.

Tree pulled himself up quickly, pointing a hand towards Gajeel. "Gaia Spikes!" His hand changed to a brown color, and spikes shot from his very palm.

In turn, Gajeel pointed his hand (the one that currently wasn't morphed into a sword) towards Tree. "Iron Dragon's Lance: Demon Logs!" A spearhead replaced Gajeel's left arm and hand, and it shot towards Tree. Multiple iron spearheads followed it, and it intercepted the Tree's 'Gaia Spikes'.

The two attacks met with ferocity, and the vicinity in which they met exploded in a thick cloud of dirt. Using Tree's last location as guidance, Wendy aimed a Roar through the smoke, but before the words left her mouth, she felt a dark presence around her. A shiver ran down her spine. "Wendy, move!" Charle warned as the Exceed grabbed Wendy by the nape of her neck in her haste, carrying the Sky dragonslayer to a safer location.

Lily used this time to charge Tree, and he swung his massive sword at the large man. Tree ducked to the left, effectively evading the blow. He then delivered a swift uppercut using the heel of his hand to Pantherlily's jaw. The Exceed stumbled back from the power behind the blow.

Tree tried to follow with a blow to the chest which surely would have sent Lily sprawling. He almost did, but before he could perform the blow, a staggering punch struck the small of his back, throwing him nearly twenty feet. Tree rolled when he hit the ground, righting himself. He glanced at the perpetrator of the aching bruise on his back, to find Gajeel, covered in some sort of gray scales.

"Don't touch my cat, damnit!" Gajeel snarled.

"Your body; is it some sort of new defense?" Tree asked, pointing to Gajeel's iron scales.

"It isn't just for defense!" Gajeel retorted, throwing a punch in Tree's direction, though Gajeel was nearly thirty feet away. However, a sharp gust of wind was thrown just by the kinetic force of Gajeel's punch. The wind slammed against Tree, throwing him against a boulder.

The boulder cracked and shattered. The - now battered - Tree pulled himself up slowly, almost as if he were savoring the pain. "If you're going to get serious, then I shall too!" Tree murmured, and he twirled his foot on the soil gracefully, drawing some sort of magic circle in the ground.

When the circle was completed, a green light began to illuminate the area, coming from the circle. Gajeel watched in slight horror as batlike wings sprouted from Tree's back, and the flesh under his arms, just under his armpits, began to bubble and swell terribly. Suddenly, a pair of arms sprouted from the bubbling flesh on either side, giving Tree four arms. His skin was turned a sickly brown, and black lines were etched in his skin. However, the lines were different than what would appear on Natsu's body in his Dragon Force.

Tree bent on all "fours" and disappeared in a blur. He reappeared right in front of Gajeel, and swatted against the Iron Dragonslayer with his arms in a single motion. Gajeel was slammed into the ground, and Tree bent down so that he was face to face with the Dragonslayer, who still lay on the ground.

"Gaia Cannon," Tree whispered with a demonic grin, and he fired it at Gajeel in point-blank range.

"Gajeel!" Lily shouted. When Tree was finished with his attack, he jumped back. Gajeel was still in one piece, but his scales were gone, his eyes closed. His chest rose and fell with a rhythmic motion, signalling that he was unconscious.

"Damn! This is bad!" Lily cursed. He raised his sword and jumped towards Tree. He swung his blade towards Tree's neck, but Tree ducked and slammed one of his arms against Lily's chest. Lily was thrown thirty meters away, almost out of the clearing. He had landed near Wendy and Charle.

Lily pulled himself up so that he was sitting. "Wendy," he coughed.

"Y-yes, Lily-san?" Wendy replied hesitantly. She was absolutely scared out of her wits now that Gajeel - her almost fatherly figure - was knocked out cold.

"There's no way I can beat this guy. But Gajeel can," he said with a small smile. "I'll hold him off as much as I can, while you heal Gajeel. I'll hit him with one of my strongest attacks as soon as we're done talking. He won't be hurt, but he should be distracted. Charle, you use that time to hurry and grab Gajeel and bring him back to Wendy. Wendy, you focus on healing him then. This guy likes a good fight and cares about little else other than that. He probably won't pay attention to someone who can't fight, and thus won't notice Gajeel's body's disappearance," Lily deduced.

"T-That's a lot to remember," Wendy said tentatively. "But I'll do it!" she added, determined.

"As will I," Charle gave her input, narrowing her eyes at their rather rambunctious opponent.

"Good, then let's go!" Lily muttered, and he hefted his sword up. He jumped off of the tree behind him to gain some air, and he lifted his sword over his head in preparation to strike. "Lion's Talons!" Lily shouted, and he swung his sword once. A white beam, concave in form, shot towards Tree. He followed with multiple other strikes, all aimed at Tree.

When Lily was finished, a dust cloud covered the area where Tree was previously in, masking his presence. However, Lily could still smell the man. To match this man in ferocity, he couldn't try and follow Tree with just his sight. Tree moved too fast now for that. Lily had to make use of his powerful smell.

He smelt the sudden change in location of Tree's scent, and reacted accordingly. He swung his sword behind him blindly, catching Tree off-guard. His massive blade impacted against Tree's belly, causing the beast-man to stagger a few feet back. However, he remained, for the most part, unharmed. Lily glanced towards where Gajeel's body used to be, and sighed in relief when he found it not there. His relief was short lived though when Tree clasped his fingers together and slammed his joined-together fist into Lily's belly.

Lily coughed up blood while he was in midair, and he was thrown nearly thirty feet into the air from Tree's fist. Tree's scent changed locations again, and Tree appeared above Lily. Lily was falling with his back pointing towards the ground, and he held his sword in front of him so that it was parallel with the ground. A second later, Tree's elbow impacted into the sword. Although, while coming into such contact with a blade would hurt any normal person, Tree was unaffected as he drove his elbow downwards with such ferocity that Lily knew he would be crushed when he hit the ground.

Lily hit the ground with a bone-shattering _boom_. In fact, Lily was almost positive his back had broken in the fall. He coughed up more blood, and his vision began to darken. Patches of red and black obscured his sight, though he could see Tree hovering over Lily's body. Tree grinned his murderous grin, and raised all four of his arms in preparation to end Lily's life.

. . .Only the blow never came. A spiral sped towards Tree from the trees. It was a gray color and resembled a tornado except that it was moving parallel to the ground. It slammed into Tree, piercing in even that beast's thick skin. The form kicked off Tree's chest after the impact, and Lily recognized it as Gajeel. _Wendy did it!_ he realized. He owed both of these Dragonslayers his life now.

"I told you...not to...touch my cat!" Gajeel yelled, and he held his arms and hands together. Lily didn't recognize the form. Was it a move he hadn't seen before? "Dragon Slayer's Secret Art...Karma Demon: Iron God Sword!" Gajeel finished, and he swiped his hands down. A huge, no, _gigangic_ sword slammed down on Tree and at least a good hundred feet behind him.

Hands gripped Lily and flew him away into safety just before the explosion issued.

The tension was suspenseful as they waited for the smoke to clear, in order to confirm if Gajeel's final attack had finished the job. When all of the smoke cleared, Tree was revealed, seemingly still unharmed. Lily made to yell, but then blood spurted from an extremely clean cut that separated Tree's body in half. The cut from Gajeel's blow was so clean that it took a few seconds to even show.

"Un...believable," Tree murmured, before he collapsed to the ground, a pool of blood already surrounding his body.

Gajeel stood over the beast's body, panting heavily. He collapsed onto his knees, and Wendy and Charle approached him. Lily turned back to his small form, still lying on the ground. Wendy placed a hand on Gajeel's shoulder. "Are you ok, Gajeel-kun?" she asked innocently.

Gajeel huffed. "Yeah, that guy was all talk." He glanced worriedly towards Lily. "Lily!" Gajeel shouted. The cat's eyes were closed, and his chest was barely rising.

Gajeel immediately ran over to Lily, despite his own injuries. He knelt down next to his companion. "Can you heal him?" he desperately asked Wendy.

Wendy glanced at Lily uncertainly. "I don't know. . .That was a terrible blow he suffered. But I'll definitely try," she added to ease Gajeel's paranoia if even by a little bit. Wendy placed her hands over Lily's body, and the grimaced. "His back is broken," she whimpered. "I can't heal a broken back," she felt tears well up in her big eyes.

Charle sighed. "I'll fly forward and get Happy. I can't carry Lily back to the guild by myself without possibly worsening his condition. Happy and I will carry him back to the guild, and subsequently, to that Porlyusica."

Gajeel nodded. This was one of those rare times when his eyes carried an overwhelming sadness. He just wanted his companion to get better. "What'll we do?" Wendy asked.

Charle narrowed her eyes at Wendy. "You three will stay here until I come back with the male-cat. Then, we'll take Lily back to the guild. You two need to rest yourselves, so you should stay here," she spoke sternly.

* * *

><p>Erza remained silent for several minutes. Kalo dug in his pocket and retrieved a gray stone. Some sort of symbols were inscribed on it, and one of the three of them were glowing. Placing it back in his pocket, he said, "I have some good news for you. One of the members on our team, probably that Tree, died. You would prefer that our entire team, except for your friend, died though, right?" Kalo said.<p>

Erza gaped, "I never said that," she whispered. She clutched her chest, where, through several layers of skin, her heart lay. She didn't know why she felt so. . .helpless. Who could she really blame for this injustice: Tartaros, or herself for not noticing Gray's recent change in behavior?

"I can tell you right now though: your friends are going to have a difficult time with Crimson," Kalo spoke seriously. "Why are you and your friends doing this, anyway? If we had kidnapped Gray, then you might be able to rescue him. However, how are you going to rescue Gray from himself?" Kalo interrogated. "Face it; this is all just useless bloodshed. No matter what you do, it is hopeless to rescue your friend."

Erza opened her mouth as if to voice a retort, but then closed it. She didn't want to listen to this, she wanted him to stop talking _so bad_. . .but why? His words were captivating, and they all made sense. Maybe she was just scared of learning the truth.

'No', Erza thought to herself. 'Fairy Tail is justified in rescuing one of their own from a dark guild through whatever means necessary', she attempted to reassure herself. However, it was all futile. Was Fairy Tail really in the right, or could they possibly be misguided in their actions?

* * *

><p><strong>Annnnnd that's the end of this chapter! I don't want to be rude or anything, but on the last chapter, I got FOUR reviews. Furthermore, that's the most reviews I've ever gotten for a single chapter so far. I write to publish my brainstorming and I like writing, but I also need reviews. I need readers to tell me what I'm doing wrong, what they like about the story, etc. Just review your thoughts on the chapter, whether it be a sentence or an essay.<strong>

**Just please! Review. xP**


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